Liam Harvey of Prince George fights in the first boxing match

Not until he started hanging out with the gang at the Spruce Capital Boxing Club.

He joined the club about a year ago and began training with Spruce Capital head coach Wayne Sponagle.

Sponagle is keeping busy in the Spruce Capital gym getting 16-year-old Harvey ready for his first boxing match, which will take place Saturday in Quesnel as part of the Rumble 32 fight card.

Harvey, a 152-pound welterweight, was matched up against Prince George’s fighter Josh Zackarias, who has been training at Chase Tufkin’s The Wolf Den gym.

“I feel excited, I’ve been training here four times a week,” said the Year 11 student at Duchess Park Middle School.

“A friend came here for a while and told me about it, so I came here and was immediately hooked. At first it was just practice, but after the first two weeks I realized that if I was good enough, I wanted to compete.

“It gives you confidence, but it also keeps your ego in check. There are tough people who come here and they realize they are not the toughest people in the world.”

Harvey had no shortage of tough players to spar with in the Spruce Capital gym in the basement of a Best Buy electronics store, and they got hit hard.

“It hurts sometimes but I’m getting used to it,” he said. “My nose is a little slippery but not broken yet.”

He had never been much of a street fighter but he had seen some after-school brawls during his time at Duchess Park.

“Sometimes people put on boxing gloves and go into the alley and throw trash,” he said. “Sometimes the parents who live nearby come out into the alley to watch. Maybe every month, guys who don’t like each other and they’ll go there to box.”



Harvey said he would have no problem making his weight class at the pre-fight weigh-in. He is no stranger to the weight room and there is not much fat on his lean and muscular bodybuilder body, making it easy for him to maintain his weight.

Boxing has taught him the benefits of clean living and healthy eating (no junk food) and watermelon is an important part of his daily diet.

“It’s the only fruit I can snack on and feel full, I just like it,” he said.

Sponagle said as long as he sticks to the game plan in his fights and does what he has been trained to do, Harvey will have success on Saturday in the ring.

“He’s a really good kid, and he’s going to be a great little fighter, I tell you,” Spongale said. “I started training him in September and of all the players I’ve had in the gym, he adapted to my style quicker than anyone else. He’s very easy to train.”



Another Spruce Capital boxer, light heavyweight Devlin Dwindel, is also on the Quesnel fight card. The 16-year-old Dwindel has just one fight on his boxing resume which came in April in Calgary when he lost a three-round 3-2 decision.

Prince George boxers Michael Brooks, Kartel Niedermayer, Thunder Innis and Joshua Greenwood will represent the Inner City Boxing Club at Rumble 32.

Dwindel, a left-hander, joined Spruce Capital in September. He had to balance his boxing workouts with his football workouts with the College Heights Cougars as a right tackle/defensive back.

“He’s a very good kid with very high potential,” Sponagle said.

Sponagle said Harvey and Dwindel had fulfilled their obligations in the gym and were ready to take the next step against a real opponent.



Sponagle, 78, is in his 58th year of boxing training. The grandfather of the local ring says it’s not just watching his fighters throw their punches and dodging punches that keeps him coming back for more. It was a satisfaction to see the fighters he trained come back years later and tell him how he changed their lives for the better.

“I’ve met so many good people, and those 58 years have been invaluable to me,” Sponagle said.

“Children need an outlet. I knew at a certain point in that kid’s life that boxing played a very important role. I’ve had lawyers, I’ve had school teachers, I’ve had people from all different professions call me and thank me for what I do for them.

“Those are children who have problems with drugs. Those are the kids who take the first steps toward becoming alcoholics. My response to them was, ‘hey bro, don’t thank me, look at yourself, you did it. I’m just a vehicle there to help move you down the right path.’”